Complications
by HoshixNinja
Summary: Strange robberies without a trace of who did it? Criminals turning themselves in in fear? Could this mean the second wave of Keron's invasion, or the start of something far worse?
1. Prologue

"And now, for a special news report."

The day was going as normal; a regular spring weekend, almost time for the cherry blossoms to bloom all over Japan. The sun was warm and the light breeze softly swayed through light blue sky. Peace and harmony were held by the songs of the sparrows. Yes, everything is peaceful in the Hinata household.

That is, until the report came up.

"Nee-chan, take a look at this." Hinata Fuyuki: an average young boy obsessed with the unknown, especially aliens, considering the fact that he usually has five in his house. Five alien frogs, originally sent to conquer the Earth in the name of the planet Keron. His hair was a dark blue, along with his gentle eyes. He was the first to notice the special bulletin.

A teenage girl with deep magenta pigtails entered the living room with an apron on. "Fuyuki, I was making lunch." Hinata Natsumi: the kind of girl with brains and brawns. She, too, was aware of the Kerons; in fact, she let their leader have his share of chores under their roof. Her brown eyes could show love and kindness, and then immediately snap to anger and discipline the next.

Fuyuki didn't move. "But it's a special report. They only do those when something exciting is happening."

"Alright, fine," Natsumi answered, sitting next to him on their sofa. "I swear, if that stupid frog's been up to something..."

"Nee-chan, he promised to stay out of trouble the last time..."

"I know, but I just can't trust him."

That 'stupid frog' was none other than Keroro Gunso, sergeant of the Keroro Platoon. If it hadn't been for the comforts of star fruits and Gundam models, Keroro might have been a great invader of Earth. But, sadly, his plans continue to fail, so he is no more than an annoyance to some of the people around him. His green skin complemented his yellow cap, and bore a star on his chest and forehead.

The TV continued with its report.

"There have been several reports of theft in multiple places near Tokyo and various small towns. There is currently no evidence as to who pulled it off and how they did it. Video cameras did not catch a thing, but police and detectives suspect a large group of professional thieves.

"However, now everyone has the same opinion on the crime. Some see this a violation of the law, while others think that the robbers are upholding it."

Several interviews came up. One was of a young woman, around her mid-twenties. "I'm not shocked that Todoro Bank was robbed. In fact, I almost went bankrupt when their lousy security systems failed to catch a bunch of teenagers taking my cash!" She stuck her nose in the air. "Besides, they didn't store my money; I know that they were unnecessarily taking some of it for their own pockets!"

Another was of a middle aged man. "I can't see why some people view this as justice. Stealing is stealing, no matter how you look at it."

There definitely some good points in both sides of the debate. It was interesting to both siblings to watch as the police were swarmed by news reporters about the robberies. There wasn't too much to tell, though; "There was probably a group involved in this. They were very careful not to get caught on camera and to not leave evidence behind. Until further notice, we have no more information to tell you." The questions didn't stop coming afterwards, however. But that's what happens when things like that happen.

There was a strange silence after the report ended.

"Fuyuki... you don't think that our money was..." There was a light fragment of fear on Natsumi's face. "Mama works so hard for our money. Do you think it'll be gone just like that...?"

Her brother was silent for a moment. "Don't worry, Nee-chan! I have a feeling that we won't get robbed." He smiled and stood up. He looked back for a second at his sister and reminded her, "Hey, weren't you making lunch?"

Natsumi grinned back. "Oh, yeah. I'm almost done, you can call the stupid frog and the others now." She went back into the kitchen, while Fuyuki was making his way to Keroro's room. He thought to himself, "_Maybe an alien robbed the banks._"


	2. Investigate!

**Oi! Just a few notes before you start reading; I'm keeping honorifics (sama, dono, chan, etc.) as well as Japanese titles (Gunso, Soucho, Nitohei, etc.) Enjoy, and review if you wish to compliment me (or hate me, I just don't care anymore.)**

* * *

It had been several weeks since the special news first aired. The crimes (or acts of justice, as some people saw,) evolved from bank robberies over the few weeks, however; missing criminals and escapees were turning up, some tied to lamp posts, others begging to be locked away. The papers loved it, and the news had it on everyday. "Mysterious Vigilante Strikes Again" was the front page of most any newspaper. What started as a robbery became a phenomenon all over Japan.

Fuyuki called out to his sister. "Nee-chan, there's another report!"

"Another one? But that's the fourth time this week!"

Despite being redundant, it was still amusing to watch the news about the vigilante. While Natsumi and Fuyuki quietly watched, they failed to notice Keroro was in his underground basement, laughing to his platoon. (Well, most of it.)

**Keroro: Detective Adventure Invasion Plan. De arimasu!**

Deep within the reaches of the Hinata household...

"**Kero, kerori!"**

Silence. Shattered.

"Keroro Platoon, I have made a new plan for the invasion of Pekopon! Our efforts shall not be in vein, de arimasu!" Keroro Gunso. Sergeant of the Keroro Platoon, sent to conquer the Earth in the name of the planet Keron. The sergeant stood on a large podium, his eyes full of confidence as he chuckled to his cohorts.

In front of him were his platoon members; three of them, that is. Giroro Goucho, Tamama Nitohei, and Kururu Soucho sat before their caption, although they didn't seem to show much interest in his new plans. You see, most of the more recent plans for the Keroro Shotai's conquest of Earth ended in total failure. Funds were running low, and so was the team's spirit.

"Gunso-san is getting excited again, desu."

"Taicho's enthusiasm is up. Ku ku!"

Giroro remained quiet.

Keroro continued. "A recent topic has become extremely popular with the Pekoponjin, de arimasu. It will be the key to our success! Kero, kero, kero..."

He then looked down to a young girl, around 13 years of age. She had a tan face with blond hair, with her bangs swept over to the right. Her eyes were large and a beautiful topaz color, which was a perfect addition to her school uniform based outfit. "Ah, Mois-dono, start the slide, please."

"Yes, Uncle-sama! You could say, presentation start?" Her name is Mois, an alien who has taken the form of a Pekoponjin. Her race of aliens judge other planets, and decide whether or not they should be destroyed or not. She was meant to destroy Earth, but seems to usually forget like how her "uncle" usually forgets the fact that he is an invader.

Now, on a usual basis, Keroro would forget about most of his responsibilities as an invader, and when he did, his team usually scorned the ideas of how to conquer the Earth.

Today was slightly different, though.

On a projector behind Keroro, there popped up dozens of newspaper and Internet articles. There were multiple titles and "hooks" that were meant to catch people's attention, such as "Secrets of the Robberies Reveled!" "Mystery Hero: What the Police are Hiding," and "New-Born Hero or Emerging Villain?" All were about the new actions made by "The Vigilante," as some people named him.

"As you can see, Japan has drawn its attention to this new 'vigilante,' de arimasu." He slammed his fist on his stand.

He glared at his platoon with a greedy and mischievous look. "So! If we were to find him, simply think of the fame we would get as professional detectives!" He started to fantasize about news conferences, people begging him to solve more cases, and yen showering down on him while the citizens of Japan praised him. He daydreamed of receiving rewards of honor, glorifying him for his hard work.

"In other words, we are re-opening the Keroro Detective agency, de arimasu!"

Giroro immediately stood in his chair, yelling, "Idiot! You're a terrible detective, and your deductions are always completely off! How the hell do you plan to catch a professional criminal that not even the police know anything about!?"

"Wh-what?!" barked Keroro back at his corporal. "W-well, I've already said that some of my other deductions didn't count-"

"_Some!?_"

Both men glared hatefully at each other in the midst of the silence in the base. Nobody dared to break the stillness.

"Bah, I'm not having any part in this stupid plan. You guys are on your own!" the red frog jumped out of his seat and left the room. Silence came, once more.

"Hmph! Fine with me if he doesn't want to help me!" Keroro said, with a childish attitude. "Well, moving on, a detective needs his assistants. So you three will help me gather evidence."

He pointed his finger to Tamama, then to Kururu. "Jea Lousy and In Ken! You two will search out crime scenes in the northern and southern parts of town. Mois, I'll have you search the west and east. I'll stay here to examine the evidence, de arimasu."

Tamama, Kururu, and Mois were all impressed. "That's my Gunso-san, desu!"

"Sounds interesting. Ku ku!"

"You could say, job well done?"

Keroro, immediately changed into a suit, wig, and sunglasses, set out one more command. "Don your Pekopon suits! Keroro Platoon, move out!"

"Roger!"

"Eh!? Here, too, desu!"

"You could say, every coin?"

"Impossible. Ku ku!"

With every crime scene, came new surprises on every corner. The platoon came upon one case to another, dotting most anywhere in the Tokyo area. Everything was the same; every coin and dollar robbed, no witnesses, no video footage, and no trace of who did it. Every plan was flawless, and there wasn't one lead to start taking Tamama, Kururu, or Mois anywhere.

Each of them used fake badges to get extra information, and Kururu and Tamama wore their Pekopon suits to make sure they didn't rise any suspicions. Tamama wore a pink shirt with tan overalls, as well as a green tie, while Kururu bore a classic detective trench coat and hat. Mois, on the other hand, wore a simpler outfit with a news reporter flair to it. With so many crimes in so many different directions, bigger questions started to arise.

Tamama sighed in disbelief after finding yet another source of useless information. "At this rate, we'll never find him, desu..." His imagination then started running wild. _But what if that woman has already found a clue and is on the criminal's trail already?_ He imagined a shady man being taken away by the police, while Keroro showered Mois with praise.

"Mois-dono, you really did bring the case together!"

"Thank you, Uncle-sama! You could say, working hard?"

He began yelling out in a jealous rage. "I can't let that woman steal my Gunso-san, desu!!!"

At that moment, something small fell from the sky and landed at Tamama's feet. "Eh? What's this?" he said, snapping out of his fury. He picked up the object, which seemed to be an origami flower folded with light pink paper. "What is this supposed to be, desu?"

The day passed by slowly for everyone, including the platoon that came up to their leader empty handed. Keroro called for his platoon, hoping to see results, but was in for a big surprise.

"What!? You three didn't find anything, de arimasu!!!"

"Gunso-san, it's not as easy as it looks, desu!"

"And all you do is sit around and make more Gunpla. Ku ku!"

"You could say, not enough effort?"

The argument went back and forth between the four, as Keroro tried to scold them for not showing enough effort, while the other three said there wasn't much they could do about it. Giroro was also called, but he didn't see why. He stayed out of the conversation, seemingly deep in thought.

Keroro still wasn't moved by their argument. "So you three didn't find _anything_, de arimasu?"

Tamama's face lit up. "Ah! I found this, Gunso-san!" he squealed, bringing out the origami flower. He thought to himself, "_How is this, woman? How does it feel, having Gunso-san being taken away from you?!?_"

"Really? Me, too! You could say, a coincidence?" Mois exclaimed, taking out a pink object almost exactly the same as Tamama's.

"Same pink flower." Kururu took one out, as well, much to the black tadpole's surprise.

The corporal looked up. "What about a pink flower? I found it outside my tent." He walked over, revealing the same origami figure. "Who's been giving these out? I thought it was just... a prank from one of you guys..." Of course, his first thought was that it was a gift from Nasumi. Upon seeing everyone else having one, he eliminated the possibility of the flower being a gift from the human girl as a token of love. The frog's red skin helped conceal his blushing cheeks.

Even Keroro pitched in. "Oh! Come to think of it, I saw one of those in my office while I was working!"

"What work?!" Giroro yelled back at him. Throughout the commotion, a feint cry broke through to everyone's ears.

Looking up, a few drops of water plopped onto the faces of the sergeant and the corporal .

"That's too much, Keroro-kun! You didn't even give me an assignment for your plan!" cried a blue frog, clinging to ceiling as easily as one stood on ground. "No one even gave me a flower, de gozaru!!!"

Dororo Heicho, last member of the Keroro Platoon. It was once again that his fellow members and leader, whom he called 'friends,' simply forgot about his in the midst of their excitement. Unfortunately, this happened on a daily basis. Even on the dullest of days, he would just seem to fade into the background, nothing more than a speck of dirt; there, but barely recognized.

He dropped from the ceiling, then immediately running into a dark corner of the base. There, he sat in a fetal position, tears silently plopping from his sky blue eyes to the cold floor. Out of habit, he began to run through his painful memories similar to the one he was in now; being abandoned in a game of hide and seek, forgotten to be picked for the ball teams, being locked out of the clubhouse, Keroro thinking everyone was present... this list seemed to go on forever. He uttered the stories to himself in a soft tone, clogged by the tears he failed to hold back. Everyone else could only watch from a distance as the blue frog locked himself away from any other creature.

"Keroro didn't give me anything to do while everyone else was working, and now I'm the only one without the pink flower!"

At that one moment, a piece of paper in a soft pink hue gently swayed onto Dororo's head. He looked up for a brief second before realizing it was on his head. He temporarily stopped his tears and grabbed the object before it landed on the ground. "What's this, de gozaru?" he asked himself, standing up and observing whatever was placed on his head. He studied it for a moment before revealing a face of shock. "I-it can't be..."

"What's going on, Dororo?" his leader questioned, wondering what made his origami piece batter or different from his.

_'It was placed on my head... and it's in the shape of a...'_

"Dororo, answer me, de arimasu!!!"

"Cherry blossom."

His companions looked confused, as they looked down at their own flowers. Upon closer inspection, they found the closer details; light pink, five petals, two points near the top. It now looked almost exactly like a cherry blossom.

Tamama was amused. "Oh! It really is a cherry blossom, desu!"

Mois was enthralled. "It's so pretty! You could say, an excellent job?"

Kururu and Giroro showed no extra interest and kept their mouths shut.

Keroro still had some unanswered questions. "But... What's it supposed to mean, de arimasu?" he asked, looking with eyes of curiosity. "What's up with an origami cherry blossom?"

Dororo kept his face low. "It's her."

With that, small pieces of metal rapidly extended between the petals of the paper flower, twisted at the end to into swirls. Small holes opened at the tips, releasing a cloud of mist and smoke that dashed into the room in no time at all. Dororo immediately dropped the item strictly from instinct and reflex. In defense, the group of aliens covered their faces with their arms. The haze was too thick to see through, but it still didn't matter because every eye was shut in the shock of all that was happening. When the fog stopped blowing from the flower, everyone looked out at the seemingly endless gray around them. "Who are you?!" Dororo yelled, covering his nose and mouth in case the gas was poisonous. "Show yourself!"

The others all stood dumbfounded at what was taking place. Keroro and Tamama both began to frantically panic, while Mois was still in shock to do anything. Kururu seemed amused, and Giroro tried to scan the room for any movement.

"Who are you!?" The ninja screamed again. Nothing seemed to happen, other than the haze slowly fading and Keroro and Tamama's screams piercing everyone's ears in an annoying way. Giroro readied his weaponry in the case of attack, still looking for any signs of potential threat. _Always be prepared._

At once, gunshots were heard and tiny bullets came flying towards Giroro. He jumped out of the way and fired back at the direction the shots came from. "On your guard, Dororo!" he shouted, not knowing where his friend was. The shots continued while Keroro ran to some sort of protection.

Tamama snapped when one shot almost his leader. "How dare you even try to hurt my Gunso-san!! TAMAMA IMPACT!!!" A burst of yellow energy erupted from his mouth, clearing the mist from the air as it passed. With the path somewhat cleared, Giroro saw the quick shadow of a figure similar to his own. _A Keronjin? Why? _Even so, he fired away without hesitation, determined to defeat whoever dared to face him in battle.

While Keroro, Tamama, and Mois continued to do their own part in the confusion, Dororo stood still, waiting for the one moment where they let themselves in sight if only for a second. He heightened this senses, hoping to find some kind of signal for him to start on. As he stood waiting, he felt the presence of someone unknown, sneaking behind him. He clicked his katana out of its sheath and slashed it at whoever tried to infiltrate the base. There was a small clash of sparks, as his blade was apparently blocked with another sword. Both sides held their weapons strong, neither giving into the other. Suddenly, a feminine voice broke through the tension.

"It's been a while, Zeroro-kun."

* * *

**Gosh, I'm lazy... Hope that fills the expectations. Probably not, because I'm not the greatest writer, but hey. Any types of reviews welcome!**

**~Hoshi**


	3. Vanish

**Back again. Did you miss me? Anyway, we left off with a fight scene between the platoon and someone else.. or _something _else. Let's begin, shall we?**

**Edit: Changed a few things (again,) just to let you know. Nothing much or anything really important.  
**

* * *

Loud bangs, explosions, and girlish screaming stole the attention of the Hinata siblings from the TV to the basement. They could only jump to conclusions at this point, although it was pretty obvious who Natsumi blamed first.

"Ggrrr... _Stupid frog_!" she yelled, fire in her eyes. _What's this idiot up to now!_

**Attack! Rage Against the Keroro Platoon. De arimasu!**

In the basement...

It seemed like the mere sound of the enraged teen's voice cleared out about half of the smoke that gathered in the room. Most of the extraterrestrials turned to see what might have caused such an uproar. The Keroro Platoon already knew these kind of situations, but the infiltrators weren't as prepared.

"What was that?"

"Stay on target! Remember why we came!"

With the cover of cloud slightly gone and the apparent team paused with confusion, Giroro pinpointed the location of the shooter. _48 degrees northwest!_ He turned around and fired at his attacker, now fleeing from the original spot. It was still difficult, though, distinguishing the different forms from friend and foe. Nevertheless, each shot was flawless; or they would have been, if the enemy didn't dodge each shot so well.

Mois, at this point, had already transformed into Angol Mois. She clutched her rod of power close to her body, not wanting to waste her power or hurt any of her friends. Tamama was enraged by the fact that anyone even dare try to hurt his leader, searching the room for anything to unleash his wrath upon. _I'll protect my Gunso-san... I'll make sure that woman doesn't get credit for helping at all!_

Meanwhile, two swords clashed against each other, every blow skillfully evaded or blocked by the other. Dororo could easily tell his opponent wielded a weapon much larger and powerful than his own. _But that only means I can handle mine faster. _After blocking another heavy blow, he flipped over the head of his adversary, quickly lashing out behind whoever attacked him. The other barely managed to turn fast enough to block the fast katana. While the battle raged in the basement, a thin layer of mist still heavily blocking everyone's view, Dororo was almost lost in thoughts; that of the present battle, and that of his own personal thoughts and feelings. _But why? Everything's so familiar... But why!_ The ninja's thoughts nearly dragged him to his own death, as he narrowly escaped the blade that wished to kill him.

However, the battle was about to end. Natsumi burst through the door, allowing the mist to escape from the large room. Her sudden appearance frightened the aliens as she glared through the smokescreen. "What are you doing, you stupid frog!" she screamed, taking everyone's attention.

"Retreat for now! We got what we came for."

"But we're-"

"Do as I command!"

Two voices came through after Natsumi and her brother entered the room. The clashing and gunshots stopped for only a moment until the second voice spoke again.

"...Fine."

With that, the enemies retreated from the Keroro Platoon. The platoon obviously tried to stop them, but the remainder of the fog prevented them from doing so. The mist cleared about thirty seconds after the mysterious retreat. Tamama was furious, babbling on and on about them being cowards. Keroro emerged from behind the podium, asking if it was over with. Giroro was left somewhat unsatisfied, not winning or losing the fight. Fuyuki and Natsumi could only wonder what went on under their feet, as small crevices and slashes dotted the floors and walls.

"Oi, Dororo," Keroro asked, "What was up with your flower? Dororo? Dororo?" He turned his head in every direction, but his friend wasn't anywhere to be found. The only thing he left was a puff of smoke and a small note fluttering about where he used to stand. Curiously, the green frog dashed out to see what the paper said. "'I need time to think.' What does that mean?" he asked after inspecting the note.

The Hinata children still didn't know what was going on. "Gunso, what happened here?" Fuyuki said, wondering if everyone was ok. "Fuyuki-dono..." The frog couldn't just say nothing happened; the whole room was scarred like a battlefield. He had no choice. The frog began to tell the short tale.

* * *

"Y-you've gotta be kidding me!"

Of course, with a room so brutally beaten as this was, it was no joke. Slashes and small holes dashed the floors, while evidence of Tamama's concentrated forces of energy left their mark on the walls and ceilings.

Fuyuki spoke up again. "But who would want to hurt you guys? I don't think there are any other hostile aliens on earth..." He was obviously worried about his friends, wondering about what kind of motive would be behind such ruin. "Do you know any other species of aliens that could do so much?"

"It was too hard to tell exactly who it was, through that smoke. From what I could see, I think they may be from Keron," Giroro replied. "But I can't really just jump to conclusions

Natsumi was disappointed with the lack of information. "So you don't have any leads? No place to start looking?"

"Not quite. Ku ku!"

Everyone turned to see the yellow maniac, emerging from under the floor tiles. "I caught it all on tape."

"Oh! That's my Sergeant Major Kururu, de arimasu!" Keroro shouted, leaping towards Kururu to hope to see who dared to infiltrate his lair. "Let me see, de arimasu~!"

Kururu stuck his hand out to hit his leader right in the face. While he lay nearly unconscious, Kururu told them what he could. "That fog was pretty thick. It's gonna be some time before we can see anything. Ku ku!"

Most everyone stood disappointed. A vandalized base, a broken team, and nothing to start on.

"Wait... Where's Dororo, desu?" Tamama wondered, suddenly (and miraculously) remembering his teammate.

"He didn't say where he was going. You could say, no where in sight?" Mois held her finger to her bottom lip in thought.

As the rest of the crew turned their attention to the missing ninja, Keroro found another opportunity to glorify himself. "So it's settled! Our new objective is to find Dororo Heichou! So far, this note is our only piece of evidence," he said, clenching the paper in his hand. "From this, we can conclude he has gone to an undisclosed location to think something over. Giroro, Tamama, and Mois, you'll be working with me."

"Roger!" they replied simultaneously.

"Natusmi-dono, Fuyuki-dono, find somewhere else to start. Kururu, I need you to refine that tape. It might give us a lead as to where Dororo might have gone and as to who attacked the base."

With that, he immediately changed to his investigator outfit. "All of you, I want you to do your best out there! Inken, Jea Lousy, and Giro-sa-"

"Enough with this detective crap!" Giroro yelled, tackling his leader and pointing a gun at his head.

* * *

First stop: Somewhere in the forest.

A few knocks came slowly on a wooden door, just next to a water mill. As the door creaked open, teal blue eyes jumped with excitement. "Natusmi-san!"

The two girls, Hinata Natsumi and Koyuki Azumaya, were quickly seated on soft cushions that lay of the floor. "Would you like some tea?" the kunoichi asked politely, pointing to the kitchen.

"Huh? Oh, sure. But there was something I wanted to ask you, Koyuki-chan," Natsumi said. She casually looked around the room and looked for Dororo, hoping she could skip the question she wanted to ask her friend. To her, it seemed weird to come uninvited and unexpected to inspect her home and ask random questions. "H-have you seen Dororo recently?"

Koyuki looked back puzzled. "Dororo? I thought he was with his friends at your house." Her face promptly shifted from confusion to worry. "He's not there?"

Natsumi lightly bit her lip, before stating, "It's kind of a long story, so..."

"Please! I really need to know!" Koyuki responded, leaping at her friend and grabbing hold of her shirt collar. Natsumi was shocked and felt somewhat uncomfortable with such a small distance between their faces, but who could blame her? She quickly excused the action, thinking, _Dororo is her close friend, after all._

* * *

Elsewhere, in the bustling streets of a hidden market...

"Please, have you seen him? Maybe you? Or you?"

Keroro jumped from alien to alien with fliers in hand, asking about the missing ninja. "Geez, hasn't _anyone_ seen Dororo?"

The Giroro, Tamama, and Mois stayed back at a cheap wooden stand, each passing out their own papers to the random strangers who hurried along without a second thought to the text on the sheet. Pictures were taped along the edges of the booth, along with random annotations that read, "Have you seen me?" Of course, some of these photos weren't the most professional, or appropriate for that matter.

"Gunso-san, this is getting really tiring!" the young tadpole squealed, wiping off sweat from his forehead. "Passing out flyers to all these aliens is getting really difficult, desu!" The other two were lashing out the papers left and rights to as many shoppers as they could.

Keroro turned around angrily to his followers. "You guys are just lazy! _You_ just have to stay in one spot, but _I _have to run around and pass out the same amount of fliers to everyone!"

Giroro stopped for a moment to protest, yelling, "This coming from the guy who just lays around watching anime and making Gunpla all day!" A few faces turned around in curiosity.

"Gero! Look at all the people you missed!" Keroro shouted back, pointing to a group of about ten aliens passing by. He rushed towards them, letting some of the fliers he held come loose from his grasp, asking them if they had seen his friend. His ambition was short-lived, however, as he soon paused in front of a large shop that closely resembled a Pekopon toy shop. His arms fell limply to his sides, the fliers he so passionately gave out scattering to the ground, as his eyes grew large and sparkled with joy.

"I can't believe it!" he shrieked, nearly scratching at the glass panel that separated him from his valued treasure. "The GX-007 Gold Plated Zaku plus Weapons Animation Color Version!"

Missed customers: about 75, if not more.

The rest of his team only watched, with little shock in their expressions. "This isn't going to get us anywhere, desu."

"You could say, no purpose?"

* * *

_Click click clack tap tap._

_Click click click tap click. Kuu, ku ku ku!_

While the rest of his teammates were out in the streets of the alien market, Kururu stood by at the base (or underneath it, I suppose) hastily typing in codes and commands to a computer. His task? Clear up the video footage of the raid and find out who did it.

With what he knew so far, he concluded this: the aliens (he ruled out the possibility of this being human,) more specifically the Keronjin, that had attacked the base were the same skilled criminals taking popularity in Japan. There was no sign of infiltration, as well as a clean attack and leave; a situation similar to those of the robberies that fooled even the most skilled officers. "Looks like Giroro-senpai was right about them being from Keron. Ku ku ku..."

"Man... Whatever that fog was, it definitely wasn't natural on Earth," he laughed as he constantly refined the film with the evidence of the infiltrators. Over and over again, he found a way to clear up the photos and get a somewhat clearer shot of the "crime scene." "Seems they got lazy this time around, missing this camera," he snickered before letting out his signature laugh.

After about 15 or so filters, a window popped up that said "No higher resolution available." Kururu looked unmoved, typing in a different code than before. This worked two times before receiving the same message again. More codes, but to no avail. "No higher resolution available."

"Tch! Taicho never has enough money to buy the newest upgrades. Kuuu, ku ku ku ku!" For now, the images still blurry, the only thing he could do is look for anything out of the ordinary and keep scanning it till he could identify the team. "Still too thick to see."

It was then that he noticed the strange... patterns formed in the fog. Upon closer inspection, he found shading and shapes among the mist closely resembling faces of humans and various alien species. One of the patterns he found quickly rang a bell in the crazy frog's mind. Several moments of silence later, there was a small typing session and a flurry of clicks before stillness once more.

On a small Space Internet article, buried under the heaps and piles of new information from all corners of the galaxy, there was a photo and pages discussing mysterious circumstances. Kururu began to read it quietyly to himself.

"Famous Captain Jesoso: Living On After Death In Own Home

"Captain Jesoso, age 32, was discovered dead by one of his former teammates while visiting for tea. The man was found to have been brutally murdered, stabbed in the torso and shoulder area multiple times.

"'It was terrifying to see,' claims his friend (who chose to remain anonymous,) 'Yeah, I've seen plenty of corpses in battle before, but this guy was a really close friend of mine. It was, like, really hard to actually realize someone had the ability to kill him!'

"A later autopsy reported large traces of alcohol in his system, causing investigators to believe he was first intoxicated before being murdered in his helpless state. It is heavily implied that the murderer was a close friend of Jesoso, since there is no evidence of forced intoxication.

"After these events, neighbors and friends who passed by to honor their fallen friend constantly reported strange noises and activities around the building. Some of these sounds include creaks, bangs, moaning, and in some cases, loud screaming. While the skeptical portion of this group points to animals, bad house conditions, and the weather, the more superstitious portion has chosen to believe in paranormal activity.

"'It's obviously his ghost, trying to tell us something. Maybe some evidence the police missed or something, but Jesoso's ghost is in that house, in that room!' tells a close neighbor. 'Trust me, I just know about this kind of stuff.'

"Since then, several ghost hunters have come to the house hoping to find a breakthrough in the existence of ghosts and spirits from beyond the grave. Many of them only found small groaning or wailing or things insignificant to the actual case. Despite this, many of them (usually with psychics) kept returning, hoping to find more.

"However, after a small break into the victim's home several months after the homicide, nearly all reports of ghostly activity stopped. Psychics who had previously confirmed the presence of his spirit now said he had "moved on" or simply "disappeared."

"The case was never solved and the criminal was never caught. The case has been forgotten, leaving Jesoso left without justice. As for his ghost, that never returned either... That is, if you believed in ghosts to begin with."

The air slowly grew stale in the silence. Nothing moving but the wheels in Kururu's head. Later, more clicks and taps went into the search engine. Words like, "ghost," "person's spirit," and "paranormal."

_Click click click, tap tap clack._

_Clack click click, tap click tap. Kuu, ku ku ku!  
_

* * *

"N-Nishizawa-san, is this all really necessary?" asked a baffled Fuyuki as professional detectives and private investigators frantically searched the alien base.

"Please, Fuyuki-kun, this was nothing!" the light blue-haired teenager replied sheepishly. _Finally, no family, no aliens, and nothing to distract us!_

This thought was only half-true, though, as there were plenty of distractions with teams and groups yelling at each other from across the room about things they might have found that had nothing to do with the actual attack.

"Sir, I found some unusual red substance!"

"Red!"

"Yes, Sir. What do you suppose it is?"

A dip in the stuff with the hands and a couple sniffs.

"I-it's blood!"

"Sir, it's just paint for Gundum models."

"Oh... O-of course! Just making sure you were on your toes!"

"I'm sure you were, Sir..."

People kept rushing by the teenage duo without a second thought. Every now and again, they were running back with evidence, which just looked like small pieces of dust or torn paint to Fuyuki. However, he knew better than to stop and ask what the importance of a spec was (from a few moments before.) Questioning the decisions of prideful private detectives usually ended up in a long, drawn out speech on how 'youth nowadays has no idea of the importance of these things!"

"Paul, has there been any progress?" Momoka asked.

"Some. We've found several bullets and are currently identifying some of the slashes in the ground," the stern man replied. "It's not much, but it's still better than nothing."

About an hour later, the place was cleared out. Paul insisted they keep what they found at the crime scene and continue tomorrow for safe keeping. _Finally,_ Momoko's other side thought,_ There's no one else here! Just me and Fuyu-_

"Oi, Fuyuki, did they find anything?"

Kururu decided to pop out from his hideaway after he was sure no one uninvited was hanging around, finished with what he was doing and hoping to find something else to occupy himself with.

Momoko was enraged. _This guy! Of all times, it just had to be now, dang it! _She tried avoiding his gloomy presence; they never really cared about each other anyways.

The boy glanced over his shoulder. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I think Paul said something about some bullets and the slash marks. They still haven't identified them yet."

"Maybe I could do them a favor? Ku ku ku!" With that, he found his way to a small desk littered with papers, tools, and plastic bags with bullets. "I'll take this!" he said with an eerily cheery sing-song voice as he grabbed one of the bags and a few pictures of the crevices made by the blade against Dororo's. He left the room without thanking the two teens for their help, or even acknowledging they were even there. All he did was simply disappear beneath beaten tiles of the base. "That's Kururu, I guess," Fuyuki mumbled.

With him gone, Momoka finally saw her chance to interact with her friend. Swallowing her shyness and putting on a faint pink blush, she said, "S-so, Fuyuki-kun, you want to go get something to eat?"

* * *

**Hoooly cow that was 3000 words long. Hope you enjoyed the second chapter, and remember: reviews are welcome! :D (Just as long as it isn't mindless trolling.) If I suck at story lines, oh well. Look forward to the next one!**

**~Hoshi**


	4. Boom

**Here goes the next chapter! Let's pick up the pace, shall we?  
**

* * *

"Man, all that work and we still don't have a clue, de arimasu!"

Upon hearing what he missed while drooling over a Gundam model Giroro wouldn't let him buy and what little Natsumi had to bring, Keroro was all but disappointed.

The platoon had no luck, despite how much time they spent passing out the fliers to as many aliens that passed by. Giroro deeply believed that it was because they wasted too much time trying to get his "idiot of a leader" away from a store for "babies and children." Natsumi, shortly after telling Koyuki all she knew of the situation, witnessed her friend change to her kunoichi uniform and almost fly away to look for the blue frog. Other than wait for Koyuki's report, there wasn't much else to be done for the search except for repeat the tiring process.

"Strange, how we've been paying this much attention to Lance Corporal Dororo recently," Giroro muttered under his breath. True, there were many times when Dororo went missing and no one really took notice. _Why do I have this feeling that something's not right..._

"Why don't we just wait until tomorrow? Maybe he'll show up again if we just wait for him, desu." Tamama said, clearly tired of all the work that simply went to waste.

A dense silence blanketed the group. No one really just wanted to sit back and wait, but no one had a better idea either. These were the last few moments of silents... before the crash.

**Kanono: Unexpected Visit to Pekopon! De arimasu!  
**

A loud boom shook the Hinata household. "W-what is _that_?" Giroro yelled as he lost his balance. Keroro dove under his podium while Mois screamed and Tamama panicked. The shaking went down shortly, however, much to everyone's delight.

"M-maybe an earthquake, desu?" Tamama muttered as he picked himself up from the ground.

"That seemed a little short for an earthquake, don't you think?" Giroro replied.

Keroro slowly stood up, still somewhat shocked by the sudden quake. "Oi, Kururu, did you feel that, de arimasu? Kururu?"

"Right here." The yellow frog emerged from his electronic hideaway under the floor tiles. "Yeah, that was actually pretty strong. Kukuku... It got rid of some of the data on the main computer."

"Wait, did it delete the stuff from the attack on the base?" Keroro yelled. Kururu nodded, and his leader began going into an angry rant against the quake.

"By the way, Leader, I don't think that'll be only thing you have to worry about."

"Gero?"

"That wasn't an earthquake. Perhaps you should take a look outside? Kuu, ku ku ku ku!"

Keroro paused. "Outside...?" he stuttered before rushing towards the door. The rest of his team, with the exception of Kururu followed after him. They passed the Fuyuki and Natsumi on their way to the yard, not taking much notice to their presence.

"Gunso, did you feel tha-" Fuyuki started.

"Hold that for a minute!" Keroro interrupted, eagerly running towards the front door.

"Eh, stupid frog, that was you wasn't it!" Natsumi exclaimed as the frog rushed past her.

"Not now, Natsumi-dono! This is important!"

"I-important?" She and her brother were both curious as to what gave the sergeant so much energy and proceeded to follow him, too.

Keroro raced out the door and was promptly greeted by thick, black smoke. "What is that?" he asked himself quietly. He glanced left and right before running to the backyard.

Giroro was utterly shocked. "What happened to my tent!" he yelled as he saw it crushed under an oval-shaped pod. It was a gleaming silver color and had a glass-like cover. A picture of a gray spiderweb was painted on the side. Suddenly, a hissing noise erupted from the pod as the cover slowly opened up. A dark gray arm reached out and grabbed the side.

"Hey, who are you?" Fuyuki yelled. No response.

"Answer the question!" Natsumi growled back.

"Man, you couldn't get any more rude, could you!" Everyone was shocked at the sudden remark from the intruder.

"Rude..." Natsumi began. "What gives you the right to call us rude when you just barge in and ruin our whole yard!"

"Well, who ever said I came in on purpose?"

* * *

Meanwhile, in a dark unknown location...

A lone ninja tried to calm the waters of his mind.

_"Everything was so familiar... That voice, those actions..._

_That flower..._

_I don't know anyone even resembling anything like this, so why do I have the feeling I know this person from somewhere? Like I've seen them in a distant dream from years ago._

_But if it's just that? Just something from a dream? What if all of this is nothing more than a coincidence? Everything is just so confusing... Perhaps the answers will come in time."_

Dororo paused as he stood up. "I should get back to the others. Koyuki's probably worried about me."

There was a short moment of silence before the frog vanished as quickly as he once came.

* * *

It wasn't long before the stranger from the crash found herself inside the Hinata home. She was promptly served tea and time to explain herself.

"Yeah. The name's Kanono. My ship lost an engine and we had to get out of there before we crashed."

The Keronion had bright red eyes, standing out from her dark gray skin. However, from the shins down, there was a lighter shade a gray that resembled socks. Her cap was brown and resembled a bear; the hat flaps looked like paws while the main part resembled its face with its tongue sticking out. She wore black sleeves with with white endings and rainbow colored lines crossing its body. A brown belt with two gun holsters crossed her stomach. The weapons inside them slightly peeked out. Her symbol was a rainbow colored spiderweb to match her sleeves and sat on her belly and the tongue of her bear hat.

"Oh, I didn't know... Sorry about those outbursts earlier," Natsumi said reluctantly.

"Huh? Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Kanono replied as she took a sip of her tea. "But to think, of all places I get to crash at the Keroro Platoon's secret hideout? I'm a pretty big fan of your work!" She smirked and put her legs on the couch.

Keroro's eyes went wide. "Really? What have you heard about me?"

"You? Oh, you're a legend! Leading a team of only three other members to conquer and entire planet must be really hard!" Kanono leaned closer to him. "Hey, these Pekoponions must be your slaves, huh? I bet they attend to your every whim," she whispered.

"What else would they be? Kerokerori-"

_SQUISH_

"What was that about slaves, you stupid frog?" Natsumi said as she stomped down on the sergeant's head.

Immediately following that was almost absolute chaos; Natsumi started violently chasing Keroro, squishing and stretching him whenever she got the chance while he nearly begged for his life. Fuyuki reluctantly tried to talk her out of the torture, but to little avail. Kanono was quite shocked at the sudden change in atmosphere; Giroro and Tamama weren't so surprised as they stayed seated, away from the fight. Mois, who had simply been watching the whole scene, didn't really have much to say or do in the situation.

"Leader-dono, I'm back!" A quiet voice near the back of the room wasn't enough to grab everyone's attention. Dororo stopped as not a single head turned to see him. He dropped from the ceiling, and attempted to present himself to the rest of the group. "Guys, I'm ba-"

He _did_ get some attention, but not in the way he expected. While chasing Keroro, Natsumi accidentally stepped right onto the ninja. This resulted in a mouthful of floor for the teenage girl and an imprint of a foot on the blue frog's head.

"Geez, that hurt..." Natsumi mumbled as she picked herself up. "What was that?"

There was an awkward moment of silence as Dororo lay nearly unconscious on the floor. Kanono broke it soon afterward. "Uh... Who are you?"

Nearly everyone in the room sweatdropped at the comment. "Dororo-senpai... I completely forgot about you, desu," Tamama admitted.

"Me too..." Giroro replied.

"Same here, de arimasu," Keroro added.

"You could say, completely unnoticed?" Mois chimed.

Kanono snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah! That other guy from the team! Yeah, I kinda forgot you, too..." she said as she scratched the back of her head.

"T-that's... That's too much from all of you!" Dororo sobbed, lying hopelessly on the floor. "Even after all that time I was gone, no one remembered me..."

Again, too much silence for the group to handle. No one had any idea what to say to break up the tension, anyways.

"Well, uh, I guess that solves that problem, de arimasu!" Keroro declared enthusiastically. "Lance Corporal Dororo has been found!"

_We didn't really find him. He just kinda showed up, desu, _Tamama thought to himself.

"Ya'know, I kinda have the feeling I'm still forgetting something..." Kanono murmured as she looked up at the ceiling. "Not about what's-his-name, but something important..."

_BOOM_

Suddenly, another crash rocked the earth. It wasn't as loud or powerful as Kanono's landing, but still very shocking none the less. Natsumi and Fuyuki quickly grabbed onto the sofa. Keroro jumped, while Giroro and Tamama fell from the sofa. Kanono dropped her tea and Dororo nearly went flying, snapping him out of his trauma.

"Oh no! Yakeke, Zirara!" Kanono yelled as she ran out the back door. Almost as soon as she reached her pod, one more boom sent dust and some small debris flying. The Keron pressed a few buttons inside the pod and it quickly morphed into a grey hovercraft.

The others rushed outside, after her, only to find her already flying off to the crashes. "Dang it, how do we catch up to her?" Giroro yelled.

"Hey, you looking for these? Kukuku!" Kururu laughed, appearing in the doorway out of nowhere. "I press!" He pushed a button and soon the all the platoon's hovercrafts materialized and were ready to go.

"Gunso, I'm coming, too!" Fuyuki said, following his green friend onto the hovercraft.

"Hey, Giroro, don't think I'm just gonna stay behind!" Natsumi added, with a smirk. "I'm riding with you, ok?"

While the others prepared their crafts, Mois took out a cell phone and pushed a few buttons. In an instant, her entire appearance changed to a purple 'magical girl' outfit with gray hair and yellow eyes to match. The phone itself turned into a golden rod with a comet on one end and a crescent moon on the other: the Lucifer Spear. She sat on the handle, preparing herself to ride it unlike how a witch rides a broom. "Ready, Uncle!"

"Then let's go!" Keroro shouted. "Keroro Platoon, move out! Full speed, de arimasu!"

"Yes sir!"

While everyone else was off, Kururu again stayed behind. "Ku ku ku... I have more important things to deal with here..."

* * *

The team soon caught up to the gray runaway. She looked back at them in annoyance before refocusing on the rising columns of smoke in the distance. "What do you guys want?"

"We're only here to help you, de arimasu," Keroro said.

"Go back to your base and let me be. You're wasting my time," she replied, desperately trying to outrun them. "I don't need your help!"

"You could say, stubborn as an ox?" Mois said.

"Can it, _woman!" _Tamama yelled, speeding past her and Keroro and following close to Kanono. "How dare you reject Gunso-san's help! You should be honored to be offered such-"

"I don't wanna hear it! Just leave me alone!" Kanono replied, angrily. She made a sharp dive to a clearing in the forest where a pod similar to her's rested.

Giroro sped up, closely following Kanono. "Damn it, slow down!" he told her, only persuading her to go faster. The platoon went down after her, barely lagging behind.

Her hovercraft soon stopped near the floor and she took no time jumping off and running towards the pod. It was the same silver that Kanono's was and had the same glass cover, but a gray swirl with two dots in the center and four other dots in a square replaced the spiderweb on the first pod.

"Yakeke, are you ok?" Kanono said, running towards the pod. She took a careful step back as the glass cover opened up with a loud hiss. "Yakeke?"

A light gray Keronion slowly sat up in the pod and nodded at Kanono. His hat was a dull green with rectangular flaps, the left one longer than the right one. The cap came low on his face, still largely covered in white. His eyes were large with small pupils and dark lines under them. His symbol was that on the side of his pod; a black swirl with white dots. An old, ancient looking book was on top of his head. It was brown underneath all the dust on it with two strange symbols on the front. The corners were curled at the end and a strap with an odd looking lock on it crossed the covers.

Kanono smiled. "I'm so happy you're ok!" she happily declared, promptly hugging the gray tadpole. He returned the gesture with a small nudge, as if to tell her to let go.

"Fine, fine. C'mon, we have to find Zirara," Kanono said, running to her hovercraft. Yakeke nodded, pressing a few buttons in his own pod. It morphed to a silver hovercraft like Kanono's. Kanono climbed onto her craft while Yakeke mounted his. "Let's go!" she yelled, taking off with him and leaving the platoon once again in the dust.

The platoon groaned in agony as they had to once again catch up to Kanono and her friend after such a short stop. A good number of them complained as they took off, irritated by the somewhat unnecessary chase. _"Why are we even following her at this point?_" they wondered in unison, once again speeding up to the gray Keronian.

A minute or so passed before the two again took a dive into a clearing in the forest. Feeling no need to go down after her, the platoon decided to take a much slower approach at following her.

Kanono stopped and hovered aimlessly above the pod. "Hey, haven't you been sleeping long enough?" she asked with a smirk.

"I could say the same to you every morning," the alien in the pod replied. "Seems like even a crash to Pekopon isn't enough to knock some respect into you, Kanono."

This alien, a Keronian, was a pale pink in color with lavender eyes and a white mask to cover the bottom half of her face. Her hat resembled a purple bow, with flaps that looked like ribbons and a back that resembled butterfly wings. In place of a symbol, a belt strapped over her belly that carried a large cleaver sword on her back. The sword looked almost as tall as she was and had a circular blade at the end of the hilt which was wrapped in old, dirty cloth. Her symbol was a pink cherry blossom with black tentacles or protrusions coming from between the petals. She stood up in her pod and straightened out her sword a little.

"Hey, slow down a little, de arimasu!"

The trio turned and saw the rest of the Keroro Platoon behind them. Keroro glanced at Zirara. "Another one! Do you have anyone else to pick up, Kanono?"

Zirara looked at her friend in shock. "Kanono, you met the Keroro Platoon?"

"Yeah, that's kind of a long story..." the gray Keronian replied, scratching the back of her head. "But that can wait. We have to hurry before-"

"Before what? You have any other friends to catch up with?" Giroro interrupted. "'Cause we'd be more than happy to escort you."

_We would?_ the platoon thought.

"As a matter of fact..." Kanono started, "I don't. Besides, none of this is any of _your_ business. You guys all look pretty annoyed right now... Why don't you just fly back to that fancy little base of yours then!"

"Kanono, calm down!" Zirara yelled. "My apologies, Corporal Giroro, for Kanono's behavior, but we do have to hurry before-"

_**Boom.**_

"Too late."

* * *

**...I really need to write more often. Thank goodness Harry Potter is here to bring the sweet writer's elixir of life known as inspiration. **

**~Hoshi  
**


End file.
